Chamber and committees

Within the financial year 2022-23, we’ve made available an initial £3 million from our £10 million long COVID Support Fund to provide NHS boards and partners with additional resource to deliver the best local models of care for assessment, and support for the treatment or management of symptoms.

Anyone who is at risk of homelessness as a result of long-COVID or any other reason can contact their local authority for advice and support. Additionally home owners with a mortgage are encouraged to engage with their lenders at an early stage to discuss their options and tenants should contact their landlord. Other organisations such as Shelter Scotland and Citizen Advice Scotland are also able to provide advice and support.

Supported by Scottish Government funding, the Money Talk Team service is delivered by the Citizens Advice Network in Scotland and provides an income maximisation service, including advice on welfare reform and debt to help clients save money, access benefits and grants they are entitled to and deal with debt problems.

The Scottish Government has surpassed its commitment to ensure every extra penny it receives from the UK Government is spent on health and social care. This means an extra £1 billion will be available to improve front line services and help fund the NHS pay deal for 2022-23. Scottish Government continues to keep the management of the 2022-23 budget under close and constant review, however, we do not anticipate further consequential funds from UK Government this financial year.

The Tenant Grant Fund was a £10 million fund with each local authority receiving a share, based on a distribution agreement between CoSLA and Scottish Government.

The allocations were as follows:

Adult Disability Payment provides financial assistance for the additional costs experienced by disabled people and people with long term health conditions. Individuals with ongoing daily living or mobility difficulties due to having had Covid-19 can apply for Scottish disability assistance.

More widely the Scottish Government has set out in its Covid Recovery Strategy over 70 actions that will support people by: increasing financial security for low-income households; enhancing the wellbeing of children and young people; and creating good, green jobs and fair work. In support of the Scottish Government’s overarching aims, this will focus on reducing systemic inequalities, tackling poverty, and supporting people most affected during the pandemic.

The administration of pensions is reserved to the UK Government.

In Scotland, there is a range of financial and practical support available to adopted and fostered children and young people, and their families. This year, the Scottish Government has provided funding of over £500,000 to third sector organisations, including Adoption UK Scotland and the Fostering Network, to provide the help that adoptive and foster families may require.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce an adoption/foster care box of essentials for families. Adoptive parents and foster carers are, however, eligible to register for a Baby Box through their appointed social worker if they are caring for a child between 0 – 6 months.

Scottish Government is not currently considering the introduction of a home delivery service for Community Pharmacy. A large number of community pharmacies provide a free home delivery service and where they don't, patients are encouraged to use approaches such using a 'flu friend', when family, friends or neighbours are able to collect medicines on their behalf.

As part of the winter vaccination programme, as at 18 December 2022, 526 Novavax Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Scotland. This equates to 0.03% of the total vaccines administered as part of the programme.

Public Health Scotland do not currently supply the Scottish Government with the number of each type of vaccine administered at a Health Board level.

Pay for staff in the SCS is reserved and operates within the UK Cabinet Office pay and performance management framework which sets out each year the level of pay increase and non-consolidated performance payments that may apply.

Since 2007, the number of senior civil servants (SCS) who have received a non-consolidated performance payment and a pay increase in the same year is 188. This covers the four calendar years 2007 to 2010.

The total amount of such performance bonuses during the period 2007 to 2010 was £2,503,000 and this represents 320 payments (so some of the 188 SCS will have received a payment in more than one calendar year).

No senior civil servants have received a non-consolidated performance payment alongside a pay increase in the same year since 2010 in line with the Scottish Government pay policy presumption against performance bonuses.

The number of people convicted in Scottish courts, where the main charge was Shoplifting, was published on 21 June 2022 in Table 4b of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21 bulletin.

The most recent five years of data are shown in the following table:

While the Scottish Government provides the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare, it is for each NHS Board to decide best how to utilise funding, facilities and staff while taking account of national and local priorities to meet local health needs.

We will develop a Remote and Rural workforce recruitment strategy by the end of 2024. This will support employers to ensure that the Health and Social Care needs of people who live in remote and rural communities are met.

As part of the Scottish Government’s work to develop a sustainable healthcare workforce, we continue to look for opportunities to increase levels of recruitment and retention of healthcare staff in rural areas.

The number of doctors in training is also up 24.3% under the SNP - or 1,295.6 WTE (from 5,336.1 WTE as at September 2006 to 6,631.7 WTE as at Sept 2022). And we have now created the biggest ever expansion of medical training posts – 152 places at £37m over the next four years to help future-proof our NHS. This equates to 2.5% increase in WTE workforce of 6,100 trainees – who make up 42% of doctors in hospitals. This brings the total number of additional places created by Scottish ministers to 725, since 2014.

In all areas of NHS Scotland, a great deal of effort is going into ensuring that services have sufficient capacity to deal with COVID-19, manage other risks and resume planned services as safely and effectively as possible. This includes ensuring that there are sufficient levels of consultant, including general surgeons.